


A Missing Penny

by the_day_before



Series: Lucky Penny [1]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Humor, Kid Fic, M/M, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 12:01:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14496546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_day_before/pseuds/the_day_before
Summary: prompt: "Imagine your OTP sending their kids off for their first day of school, expecting to come home and have sex since it’s their first day alone in a while, but end up feeling sad and having separation anxiety so they cuddle all day instead."





	A Missing Penny

Arthur woke up extra early, to make a fresh lunch for Penny. Complete with toasted sandwiches and bunny sliced apples. They spent a whole day shopping for an assortment of princess and marvel superhero school supplies, and brand new clothes.

He didn’t mean to wake the rest of his family, but he heard shuffling from the hall.

“Daddy,” Penny whined, towing an equally scruffy looking Eames behind her. “Why’re you up so early?”

Eames yawned, stretching in his impossibly accurate lion impersonation. “Quite right, sweetheart.” Eames scooped up Penny in his arms and settled her on his side. “Come back to bed, darling. School doesn’t start for another two hours.”

Arthur strode across the kitchen and placed a quick kiss on Penny’s head and another on Eames’ lips.

“Never hurts to be early and prepared.”

Eames wrinkled his nose in distaste. “You were one of _those_ students. Never late, and always handed in homework early, making the rest of us regular folk look bad.”

Arthur didn’t reply but simply stared at Eames. “And what were you like?”

Eames chuckled. “Let’s just say, I was no model student.” he paused. “With versatile handwriting.”

Penny yawned, rubbing her eyes. “Daddy, come back to bed.”

“Yes love, come back to bed,” Eames repeated. “It’s a lovely bed, with loads of fluffy pillows, those pillows you bought for three hundred dollars. They better be slept on when they’re three hundred bloody dollars.”

“I will just give me a minute.” Arthur waved at them to go back. “Can’t distract an artist from his canvas,” he said, arranging Penny’s lunchbox in colour coordination of yellow and white, with another side full of reds and greens.

“We’ll be counting down the seconds.”

Arthur did join them, for probably a power nap of half an hour. Sandwiching Penny between them, and Eames muttering “About sodding time.” brushing his lips against Arthur’s hand, followed by his gentle snoring.

Then Arthur’s internal alarm clock woke him up. He was up and tickling Penny awake, and Penny was up tickling Eames awake.

They had a hearty breakfast of toast, eggs and bacon. Arthur had Penny in his lap, rubbing out the sleep from her eyes.

“Excited?”

Penny yawned, biting down on her toast, head swaying. “Mmhm.”

“I hear Jojo is going to be in your class.” Eames began.

Penny perked up at that. “Really?”

“Yup. Wouldn’t want to keep her waiting, would we?”

Penny munched on her eggs, racing Eames to see who finished faster. Arthur placed their plates in the sink and watched amusedly as Eames purposely chewed longer than normal, waiting for Penny to swallow the last of her milk.

“Done!” She shouted, wiping away her milk moustache, smiling triumphantly.

Eames laughed, coming around to lift Penny with one arm heading for the bathroom. She ended up swinging from one of Eames’ arms, clinging onto the bicep, and screeching whenever Eames spun them.

There wasn’t the hassle that Dom apparently had with James. Probably because the poor boy has experienced quite a lot of separation anxiety already, fighting with all of his three-year-old might from being left alone in the classroom.

Penny though, hardly fussed at all. At all.

She picked out her clothes, a blue t-shirt and black striped leggings with white shorts. Her chestnut hair tied in two pigtails, derived from a very nervous Eames.

Eames carefully parted Penny's hair into two and combed out any knots. “Now love, be sure to tell me if I tug too hard, or if anything feels funny. Papa isn’t used to managing appearances to detail, like Daddy.”

“You’re doing fine Papa. Or maybe it’d be faster to just let my hair out.”

“Nonsense pumpkin,” Eames tutted. “Pigtails are all the rage.”

Arthur bit down on his lip, keeping himself from laughing outright at Eames’ apprehensive handiwork. A rarity of it’s kind.

Penny examined herself in the bathroom mirror, flicking her hair left and right. “Perfect!” she shouted and placed a quick peck on Eames’ cheek.

“You cannot wear that,” said Arthur, nonchalantly.

Eames glanced at himself in the mirror, before looking back at Arthur, eyes squinted. “Why ever not?”

“Because it’s Penny’s first day, and I will not have you looking like a slob.”

Eames fisted his hideous flamingo shirt in protest. “I do not look like a slob,” Eames said petulantly. “Not all of us are able to look like an editorial model, dearest.”

Arthur rolled his eyes. “At least change your shirt. Just a plain white tee would be enough.”

And their argument continued with Eames abhorring the mere thought of a _plain white tee_ , _darling you must know I will never resort to such garments of clothing_ , until they compromised, with Eames going with a less appalling top, a blue shirt with tiny white polka dots, which was actually Arthur’s but Eames didn’t need to know.

* * *

 

Penny held both of their hands, skipping down to their car.

She was excited to meet new kids. She was excited to see the school. She was excited about everything. And she made that very clear to them as they drove.

“Jojo said she wants a boyfriend.”

Eames sat up a little straighter at that, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter. “Yeah? Anyone she has in mind?”

Penny shook her head. “No, she just wants a boy to give her flowers.”

Arthur chuckled. “Doesn’t her dad give her lots of flowers already?”

Penny shrugged. “Yeah, but Uncle Yusuf gives her a lot of flowers, all the time, Daddy.” she drawled. “You can’t give girls the same thing all the time, even if they want it. It gets boring.”

Eames nodded completely absorbed. “Wise words.” Eames glanced at Arthur. “Write that down, love, will you?”

Arthur made a mental note of it and stored it away in of many Penny related conversations in his brain.

“What about you Pumpkin, do you have a boy you like?” Eames asked, voice sickeningly sweet, yet his knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel.

“Hmm, not really,” Penny said. “They smell sometimes.”

Eames smiled, genuinely this time. “Quite right, petal. Boys are gross. Very unhygienic. Better to keep them at arm's length.”

Penny rolled her eyes and giggled. “But Papa, you’re a boy too!”

Eames shook his head. “No, no. Papa is your Papa, so by default, I am 100% Papa.”

Penny laughed, and Arthur couldn’t help from cracking a smile.

“Stop talking nonsense and concentrate on the road, dearest,” said Arthur.

“Ohh dropping pet names, I must be on your last nerve, darling.”

* * *

It didn’t hit Arthur, until they pulled into the school parking lot, with a swarm of other kids from all ages being dropped off by their families. They were going to be doing this for the rest of Penny’s school career.

You could tell who the veteran parents were. They were the ones in the minivans, sporting impressive dark circles, carrying five different lunch bags in one arm, and firmly carrying one of their youngest kids in the other. Their other kids were walking in front, yawning and stretching as they made their way to the entrance.

Looking at other families made Arthur realize how hectic it was going to get. With potential ballet, baseball, and piano lessons lined up for Penny, who knows how they’re going juggle everything. Not to mention if they wanted more kids—which was a completely different topic of discussion.

They did get some interesting looks from the other parents, Arthur paid them no mind, and Eames could hardly give them any attention, not when he was carrying Penny, admiring his handiwork. “Remind me to take a photo, love. Must commemorate this moment.”

Arthur rolled his eyes. “You just tied up her hair into two, Eames. You can look smug when you figure out how to give her a fishtail braid.”

“But look at how perfectly symmetrical they are, darling,” Eames exclaimed. “Tell me you aren’t the least bit proud.”

They walked towards the kindergarten classroom. The classrooms looked different from when Arthur was in school. It was… brighter, colourful, and seemed like a place where kids could have fun.

“Jojo!” Penny giggled, worming her way out of Eames’ arms and sprinted to her friend.

They screamed and giggled, and Arthur thought he was experiencing déjà vu from when he visited Philippa at her fifth birthday party. A lot of screaming girls, with a lot of lung capacity.

“One day she’s going to bring home a boy,” Eames said. He wasn’t even facing Arthur. He focused on the boys and girls interacting, almost like watching a nature special. “I already know I’m not going to like him. Whoever he will be."

Arthur chuckled. “We have a few more years until then.” But Arthur couldn’t deny the little protective voice in his head saying _Not too far off_.

Penny hugged them both goodbye, barely brushing her lips against their cheeks before rushing off to play with the new toys. With the boys.

Arthur tugged at Eames’ shirt, trying to get him out the door.

“One moment, pet,” Eames said, eyes never leaving Penny and the blond boy who was ever so persistent with keeping her attention. “Must wait and see if he dares to do anything. Like, kiss her.”

Arthur sighed. “Eames, they’re kids, relax. Even if they did kiss she’s not going to be scarred for life.”

Eames made a protesting little sound as Arthur dragged them out the door. “Maybe she won’t be, but I certainly will.”

“Well, think about this,” Arthur whispered once they were in the hall. “We have the entire house to ourselves for a few hours.”

Eames' eyes twinkled at that. “Yeah?” he asked, snaking his arms around Arthur’s waist. “Anything in mind, love?”

Arthur lowered his voice. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

* * *

The ride back was quiet. Not awkward, but really… void of sound. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to speak. But they were too preoccupied.

Out of the two of them, Arthur was the detail orientated one. He made sure to give a list of things to keep in mind to the teacher. All of Pennys’ tiffs. She hated being put down for a nap without her polar bear stuffie, Mr. Pear. In case Mr. Pear ever went missing, one way to get her to sleep is to deplete her of energy; she can pass out just about anywhere if she feels comfortable enough. She loves cleaning up just as much as she loves creating a mess, categorizing by size, colour, and material. If she started acting up, or if there was an emergency he offered both his and Eames’ numbers.

When they arrived back home, neither of them was in the mood to “get down.” They didn’t even need to talk, one look at each other and Eames offered an awkward smile.

“Look at us, love,” Eames whispered. “Two grown men, who could’ve easily thrown the entire country into a state of panic, having separation anxiety being apart from their little girl.”

Arthur sighed and walked right into Eames' arms, snaking his arms around Eames’ waist. “I know she’s fine, and I know she’s strong, but I still have an ugly feeling in my chest,” mumbled Arthur into Eames’ shoulder. “That and the fact she barely even glanced back when we left.”

Eames chuckled. “This is what it’s like to be a parent,” said Eames. “Who would’ve thought.”

**Author's Note:**

> a/n: i might add more stuff to this, just because this au is cute and i want to revist it from time to time, hehe.  
>  _Hope you enjoyed! Kudos, comments, criticism, etc, are much appreciated ♥_


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